Last year’s Assassin’s Creed: Unity didn’t go down too well with some, in fact, many felt it was a step-back for the franchise, even though there was a lot of progress in gameplay and graphics. It was a decent looking game, wasn’t it?
One aspect of the Assassin’s Creed games that has split players has been the modern-day story. The first few games focussed on Desmond Miles’ story and how he becomes a hardcore killer before, well, no spoilers here – sorry.
Since Black Flag, the modern-day story has been more or less stripped away. Black Flag had more of a meta story going on in the background where you could mooch around the offices of Ubis- erm, Abstergo. It wasn’t amazing and it felt really tacked on and empty, but Assassin’s Creed: Unity took it to another level by completely doing away with any interactions in the present day. Instead we were given short cut-scenes that came sparingly and didn’t really do a great job at giving players a purpose for being in the Animus system.
However, Syndicate may be a little different, at least according to some of the developers.
Speaking on a live Twitch stream where Ubisoft is hoping to raise lots of cash for charity, some of the team behind Syndicate took part in a short Q&A with fans. One fan asked whether Syndicate would have any modern-day events, to which the developer answered in a somewhat confusing manner. It was mentioned that there is a modern-day story being told as well as Jacob and Evee’s own tale and that fans would be happy with what’s on show. It should also be noted that the developers refused to go into too much detail as they “didn’t want to spoil the narrative”, so it looks like the modern-day story will at least be worth following.
For fans of previous games in the series, it may come as a pleasant little surprise to learn that a cannon blast from the past is in some part involved with Syndicate: Edward Kenway. Obviously the Welsh buccaneer won’t be present in person (he’s long dead by this point) but his London home is featured, but again the developers didn’t want to go into too much detail as they don’t want to spoil any surprises or ruin the narrative. Perhaps we’ll see how the Kenway bloodline carries on? We’ll have to wait and see.
Assassin’s Creed Syndicate releases on PS4 and Xbox One this October 23rd. The PC release is due out on November 19th.
You can donate to the charities that Ubisoft is supporting with these Twitch streams here. It’s for a good cause and there are lots of charities to donate to. They’re all in aid of children, whether it be providing better health care, toys, or just something as simple as getting some decent food in their bellies before they go to school, these charities need your help. Go on, be a champ.